Volunteer

We are lucky to have a loyal band of amazing volunteers who help us carry out our important work in the Irish Australian community, but we are always on the lookout for more!

Examples of how volunteers help us throughout the year:

  • Collaborate on a working group to produce mental health webinars, fundraising events and outreach events.

  • Assist with the administration of the Irish Support Agency’s office.

  • Man the tent at Sydney’s St Patrick’s Day festival.

  • Set up, serve, and clean up at our Senior’s Mid Year or Christmas lunches.

  • Assist with events throughout the year through registrations, refreshments, covid marshall.

  • Tutor students at our Senior Surfers computer class.

  • Visit seniors in nursing homes and in hospitals.

  • Become a telephone befriender and connect with someone vulnerable in the community.

We don’t need qualifications or experience, just a passion and enthusiasm to help. If you’d like to volunteer your time to help us make a difference at one, or several, of our many events and fundraisers throughout the year, click the button below to apply.

If you are a provider of professional services that could be of assistance to our clients or the administration of the organisation, we would love to hear from you. Please submit your details here too.

Volunteer Appreciation Evening May 2023



current volunteer opportunities

 

WEB DEVELOPMENT

Recruiting Immediately- We are currently seeking a volunteer for an initial one off project to assist us with some coding and integration for our website. If you would like further information on what is required- please call Una on 02 9300 8019.

OUTREACH EVENTS

Our outreach events cover a variety of topics and seek to inform and provide updated information on relevant issues to the Irish Australian community. Our events also serve to promote a sense of togetherness and kinship amongst the community by hosting events to bring people together of shared interests.  

Our event schedule will vary from month to month and this could be a perfect opportunity to volunteer with us on a semi-regular basis.  

We have recently successfully launched The Rambling Irish Walking Group which was the brainchild of one of our volunteers!

We are looking for a cohort of volunteers who are in a position to help out at particular events as they arise with setup, registrations, refreshments, and the general running order.

FUNDRAISING WORKING GROUP

The Fundraising working group assists the Irish Support Agency with creating fundraising initiatives and ideas and the achievement of our yearly target. This is a great opportunity for people who have great ideas for raising money in the community! The working group meets every 4- 6 weeks to discuss progress and any upcoming initiatives.

This is a great opportunity to contribute to the financial health of the organisation, enabling us to continue the vital work we do.

We ran an extremely successful virtual, Laughter in Lockdown Irish comedy night in September 2021 when Sydney was in the midst of lockdown, followed up by an in person comedy night, Laughter Out of Lockdown in 2022. These events brought joy and much needed laughter to the community.

The group is in the early stages of developing ideas for 2023, we would really appreciate further volunteer assistance here!

MENTAL HEALTH WORKING GROUP

The Mental Health working group is a group of individuals who have experience in this sector or who are genuinely passionate about raising awareness and offering support amongst the Irish Australian community. This group meets every 4-6 weeks to discuss what is happening in the community and to come up with initiatives that can assist with promotion of mental heath services and to create a safe space for anyone in difficulty.

The group assists with the production of our monthly wellbeing webinars that broadcast live on zoom. We also host 2 Mental Health events across the year, Shoulder to Shoulder and Women for Women.

BEFRIENDING SERVICE

Can you volunteer an hour or two each week to brighten the day of an isolated Irish senior in our community? Our befriending volunteers are hard at work visiting seniors to ensure that they have a social support who can share news and events on whats happening in Australia and Ireland. They also assess any other needs of their 'friend' and pass over to our Outreach Worker as necessary.

Please note, there is currently a waiting list of volunteers to be processed for the befriending service. Please complete the application form if you would like to be added to our waitlist. We will update you when applications open up again.

CARA CLUB

We are searching for a rotation of volunteers to help us at our fortnightly seniors drop-in. It is a great way to support our team and enjoy the craic with our fantastic bunch of seniors. We will reimburse you for your time in tea and sandwiches! 

The group meets every fortnight on a Wednesday, from 9.30 am to 2 pm.

Please note, at the moment we have a full roster of volunteers for our Cara Club. If you would like to put your name down on our standby list, please complete the volunteer application.

SILVER SURFERS

Program Paused

Every Wednesday afternoon, we hold our Silver Surfers IT lessons in the Gaelic Club from 2pm-4pm. Our seniors are delighted to be able to learn more and the world wide web and the many wonders of it! It enables them to keep in touch with friends and family, look up their interests and generally be a source of entertainment for them. We are looking for a volunteer who can help out with the IT skills and also assist with setup and refreshments.

VOLUNTEER COORDINATION

We would like to improve our volunteer engagement as we very much value our volunteers and would like for them to have the opportunity to feel part of a vibrant community that contributes to the health and well-being of our fellow Irish Australians.  

One of the struggles we face is that it can be difficult at any given moment to match a person’s availability and preference for a particular area of work with a volunteering opportunity. As such many offers of help become logged on a database that over time becomes irrelevant as personal details and circumstances change.  It is hoped that co-ordination will help to improve the volunteer experience.

If you are interested in any of the above opportunities or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Una at project@irishsupportagency.org.au

Volunteer Appreciation Evening May 2022

 

All of our volunteers must agree to abide by our non-disclosure agreement, our code of conduct, and our complaints policy.